Thank you for sharing information on this very interesting and timely session! We know that some companies genuinely champion corporate social responsibility (CSR), but others merely "CSR-wash"-exploiting social concerns for profit. Being mislabeled as a CSR-washer, despite genuine efforts, can hurt reputation and trust. We offer four recommendations to minimize the CSR-wash label:
1. Make CSR a core, not a sideline, activity
2. Foster a grassroots approach to CSR
3. Merge performance management with CSR goals
4. Craft honest CSR communication strategies
For more details, see:
Martin, U. M., Thapa, U., & Aguinis, H. 2024. Punishing the good? How to minimize an unfair CSR-washing label. Business Horizons, 67(2): 199-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2023.12.002
No time? Listen to the podcast: https://youtu.be/7Fc2F4gkk6c
I look forward to an ongoing conversation on this and related issues!
All the best,
--Herman.
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Herman Aguinis, Ph.D.
Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar & Professor of Management
The George Washington University School of Business
Washington, DC
https://hermanaguinis.com/------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 05-26-2025 11:42
From: David Skandera
Subject: Mark Your Calendar: Ending Greenwashing Panel at AOM
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Deception, lies, or just poorly executed good intentions. Greenwashing – "communication that misleads people into adopting overly positive beliefs about a [firm's socio-]environmental performance, practices, or products" (Lyon et al., 2015) – is a pervasive problem at many firms across the world.
In specific contexts, greenwashing might benefit firms. But more generally, it causes consumer skepticism about firms' socio-environmental impacts that reduces purchase intentions, hinders societal efforts to address socio-environmental challenges, harms financial performance, raises employee turnover, attracts shareholder sanctions, and harms firms' reputations. Greenwashing puts firms at a competitive disadvantage and simultaneously perpetuates their negative socio-environmental externalities.
Recognizing the harmful outcomes tied to greenwashing, we invite you to participate in our panel symposium, The Future of the End of Greenwashing: Voluntary vs Mandatory Responses & Management Research's Role, at the Annual Meeting of the AOM in Copenhagen. As the title suggests, this symposium asks: How can management researchers and practitioners help to end greenwashing?
This symposium brings together a diverse group of individuals to discuss the roles of voluntary, quasi-mandatory, and mandatory means of curbing greenwashing, as well as multi-stakeholder collaborations, cross-disciplinary research perspectives on the greenwashing challenge, and the interconnectedness of firm-level practices and policy-driven initiatives.
We hope to see you there (details below)! The symposium will involve a significant Q&A portion, but we also invite you to share any questions that you would like to ask the panelists with the organizers in advance by emailing:
Brandon Prettyman at brandon_prettyman@kenan-flagler.unc.edu, and/or
David Skandera at skanderad@vcu.edu.
PANEL INFORMATION:
Panelists:
Julien O. Beaulieu, Imperial College London (UK)
Magali Delmas, UCLA (USA)
Lucia Gatti, University of Trento (Italy)
Eun-Hee Kim, Fordham University (USA)
Time and Location:
Tuesday, July 29, 12:00pm – 1:30pm (CEST)
Bella Center, Hall D, D4-m2
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David Skandera
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond VA
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